A process for producing an alcohol has been proposed using a copper-zinc catalyst precursor carried on titanium oxide in JP-A-1-305042 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), but it has been found that when a titanium oxide which is usually available is used as the carrier, there is generally the following problem in regard to the catalytic performance.
That is, when the titanium oxide which is used has a low surface area, a sufficient reaction activity is not obtained, and when a high-purity titanium oxide prepared from titanium sulfate or titanium chloride is used, a reduction of the reaction selectivity caused by the presence of a slight amount of an impurity (a sulfate ion or a chloride ion) is observed.
Furthermore, when the foregoing catalyst using a titanium oxide which is usually available as a carrier is subjected, for example, to tablet-forming working, the catalyst is inferior in moldability and strength.
The foregoing problem is overcome by using titanium oxide and/or titanium hydroxide obtained by the hydrolysis of an alkoxide of titanium as the carrier in place of a titanium oxide carrier which is usually available. However, the catalyst precursor using this titanium oxide and/or titanium hydroxide as a carrier has the problem of high cost, since the carrier is very expensive.
On the other hand, a process for producing a titanium oxide carrier by coating active titanium oxide on a base material composed of titanium oxide porcelain is described in JP-A-52-48582. According to the process, to provide a sufficient mechanical strength for the molded carrier, it is necessary to use a titanium oxide base material obtained by burning at a high temperature of from 900.degree. C. to 1300.degree. C., and also it is desirable that the coating amount of active titanium oxide is at least 100% by weight, based on the weight of the titanium oxide base material. However, since the surface area of the titanium oxide base material becomes very low due to burning at a very high temperature, even when such a titanium oxide base material is coated with active titanium oxide, the product obtained does not show a sufficient reactivity.